Elon Musk dropped his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI on Tuesday. The lawsuit accused the company of abandoning its original mission to create artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. The lawsuit was dismissed without prejudice, which means that it can be filed again.
The billionaire entrepreneur had sued the startup in February, alleging that it set “aflame” its founding agreement to put people before profit when it signed an investment deal with Microsoft.
The lawsuit was filed in February
Musk’s lawsuit accused Altman and OpenAI of breaching a founding agreement to pursue AI research for the benefit of humanity rather than for profit. Musk claimed that the company had set “that pact aflame” by pursuing a close relationship with Microsoft, which has poured billions into the firm. The suit also alleged that the company was abandoning its founding promise to make its code available to the public.
OpenAI denied the claims in a court filing. The company said that Musk had backed its plans to become for-profit and raise “billions” in 2017. It added that it had realized that developing AGI would require far more resources than it could afford on its own, and that the for-profit structure was necessary to acquire those resources.
OpenAI was launched in 2015 and captured the public’s imagination with its generative AI technology, including chatbots that can write poems and pass college exams, as well as image and video-generating tools. It’s been funded by billions from investors, including venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and Saudi Arabian prince Alwaleed bin Talal. Musk helped to found the startup and departed three years later. He has since started his own artificial intelligence firm, xAI, and warned that superintelligence could end human civilization. He also has criticized Apple for its deal with OpenAI, saying that the company will sell user data to the company without their consent.
The lawsuit alleged that OpenAI was betraying its founding mission
Musk’s lawsuit alleges that OpenAI has strayed from its founding mission by pursuing profits. It seeks to compel the company to adhere to its original mandate of developing AI that benefits humanity, and bar it from monetizing technologies for its own benefit or that of its partners like Microsoft. The complaint specifically mentions an advanced model called GPT-4, which the suit says represents artificial general intelligence (AGI), which would be at par or even exceed human cognition.
The lawsuit also accuses OpenAI of using proprietary data from news organizations in its generative AI products without permission. The complaint is seeking compensation, a court order forcing the company to share its research with the public, and restitution of donations meant for its public-minded work. It also asks the court to rule that advanced models that can be classified as AGI should not fall under exclusive corporate control.
When OpenAI started in 2015, its founders agreed to focus on non-profit work and make its code freely available. In the lawsuit, Musk accuses Altman and Greg Brockman, president of OpenAI, of violating this pact by making the company a for-profit corporation with an eye on profit. However, X. Corp owner Musk has dropped the lawsuit “without prejudice,” meaning he could choose to refile it in the future. The lawsuit highlights tensions in the tech industry over how to develop AGI, with critics concerned that it could evade human control and endanger the planet.
The lawsuit alleged that OpenAI was pursuing profit
A California court dismissed the lawsuit filed by billionaire Elon Musk against OpenAI founder Sam Altman and other members of the company’s board. The lawsuit claimed that the AI firm had breached its founding commitment to creating artificial intelligence that benefits society and instead focused on profit. The suit asked the court for injunctions and to return donations made to support OpenAI’s nonprofit research.
The lawsuit alleged that the company had set its founding mission “aflame” when it signed a deal worth billions with Microsoft. It also alleged that the company had prioritized profits in developing its most powerful language model GPT-4. GPT-4 is a tool that can generate poetry, essays and even pass an exam. The lawsuit also claims that the company has not shared information about its internal research.
Musk had long been critical of the company, which started out as a non-profit and became the face of generative AI thanks to billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft. The lawsuit is the latest chapter in a long-simmering dispute between the two.
Lawyers for OpenAI and Musk did not immediately comment on the dismissal of the case. But experts said the lawsuit was unlikely to succeed in proving that the company had breached its founding mission. In addition, the plaintiff had no legal standing to sue for breach of contract because he was not a member of the OpenAI board.
The lawsuit was dismissed
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has dropped a lawsuit against the founder of hotshot AI startup OpenAI. The lawsuit accused the company of abandoning its original mission to develop artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity. A judge in California dismissed the lawsuit on Tuesday, without giving a reason.
The lawsuit, which was filed in February this year, claimed that OpenAI had set “aflame” its founding agreement to put people ahead of profits by signing a billion-dollar deal with Microsoft. It also claimed that the company had violated its own code by walling off proprietary software and by failing to publish results of its research.
In a motion to dismiss, lawyers for OpenAI and Altman said that the complaint was frivolous and that they had complied with all court rules. They asked the judge to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice. This means that the case could be revived in the future.
The move came just days before a judge was scheduled to hear arguments in the case at a hearing this week. The plaintiffs in the suit included the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California, the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University. They argued that private companies should not be able to use breach of contract claims to punish researchers who criticize their products and services.
